We’ve reached the point where the rest of the year can be measured in days. Once we ring in the new year, that flip of the calendar connotes a fresh start and provides a natural time for reflection, goal setting, and change. Does your planned giving program have any New Year’s resolutions? If you believe that a thoughtful refresh will enhance growth and vitality in the coming year, consider these four opportunities for innovation.
1. Evaluate your strategies
Refreshing any program starts with a realistic assessment of current strengths, weaknesses, and areas that need improvement. Consider the following questions:
• Are you targeting the right people with your planned giving efforts?
• Are you communicating planned giving options to those people in a manner that is simple, educational, engaging, and inspiring?
• Are you making the best use of your resources to effectively connect with supporters and encourage giving?
• Is each person on the planned giving team making the best use of their time and talents, and are they effectively trained on the nuances and best practices of planned giving?
• Is the organization devoting an appropriate amount of time and resources to the planned giving program?
• Is your evaluation of results based on a realistic understanding of the long timeline and necessary repetition of planned giving marketing efforts?
2. Update your donor database
Your donor data is essential to identifying individuals who are (or are likely to be) interested in planned giving and cultivating existing relationships. An annual review is important to verify that all donor information is current and complete. For example, consider that the success of any donor outreach depends in large part on the quality of the mailing list.
At the start of each year, you may want to:
• Incorporate changes from the previous year. Make sure your donor data reflects any modifications in marital status, career, or contact information, along with noting revisions to donation information, engagement level, or communication preferences.
• Examine data to identify new prospects. Look closely at information about a donor’s giving history, financial means, age, and involvement with your organization. These can help you identify those who may be most interested in expanding their giving.
3. Identify weak spots in your outreach
Because planned giving is so valuable to your organization, it’s important that you are maximizing the efficiency of donor communications. Evaluate what you sent out in 2024:
• Did you communicate in a way that was consistently clear, compelling, and current?
• Are you using the most effective donor-centric language?
• Did you explain planned giving and the various gift options in a way that was easy to understand?
• Did you hit on the right mix of educational and inspirational?
• Did you include thoughtfully chosen messaging about your mission and accomplishments to give donors clarity about the impact of their donation?
• Did you establish the right frequency of donor communications?
• Did you target the right audience for each message?
• Did you engage with allied professionals (estate attorneys, financial advisors, accountants)?
• Did you recognize and thank donors in a meaningful way?
• Did you establish an effective multi-channel approach? Consider educational materials (such as brochures or articles), printed mailings (newsletters, mailers, or postcards), emails, website content, free giveaways (such as a will and estate planning guide or a tax guide), ads (used in magazines or posted on social media), social media posts, and surveys.
• Did you consistently include a motivating call to action?
• Does your website clearly and accurately represent your mission and your voice, educate potential donors on their options, inspire gifts, and make it easy for donors to reach you?
Use your evaluation to tweak or thoughtfully rework your communication efforts—an undertaking that can reap big rewards in giving.
4. Revitalize your legacy society
Legacy societies foster a sense of community and shared purpose. They are imperative to the success of your planned giving program. Members of legacy societies make larger planned gifts and are more apt to make irrevocable gifts.1 If you don’t yet have a legacy society, consider whether now is the right time to create one. If you do have a legacy society, think about ways to reinvigorate it so that members feel appreciated, excited about the organization’s future, and inspired to increase their generosity. Think about the following ideas:
• Offer new benefits or perks to encourage engagement and satisfaction.
• Actively recruit new members with surveys, targeted communications, and personalized outreach.
• Brainstorm ways to improve the manner in which your legacy society functions.
• Consider a new name or logo.
• Feature your legacy society on your website.
• Throw a “relaunch party” or some other type of recognition event.
Implement new ideas
Using the new year to review your current program and embark on strategic changes will help you maximize connection and giving in 2025. Remember to set yourself up for success by setting clear goals and translating those goals into a comprehensive plan for the year.
